The Pattern – Oceana [Review]

Oceana is a Roman band that debuted in 1995 with a demo printed in only 500 copies. In 1996 an EP was released containing two new tracks, Violet and Tragicomic Reality, and the four of the reissue of the debut demo. A second EP was to be produced, but it all fell apart when Massimiliano (guitar player and choirs singer) joins Novembre, a capitol band.

They return in 2020 with a launch video for the song You don’t know, and in 2021 with their debut full length, The Pattern, produced by Time to Kill Records and mixed by Dan Swanö.

Can we see perfection in a debut album?

Yes, we can! As perfection could be fuond in art, since Oceana began their journey with a record like this, we need to redefine the concept of perfection.

Theirs is a record that goes smooth with no misstep from the start to the end, without any discordant note.

From the beginning you get so involved in the music that you find yourself at the end of listening with a certain dissatisfaction, due only to the fact that you are thinking that the jounery has already come to an end.

Music genre and influences

Trying to define the music Oceana make tagging them is a bit difficult. Their music fits into genres like Progressive Death Metal, but they are not just this. The Pattern includes brutal sounds from the best ’90-’00 Swedish Death Metal, like the one played by Edge of Sanity, Katatonia, At the Gates or Tiamat, something from Metallica-like Thrash Metal and influences form Progressive genre. Sailing in this sea of sounds is the singer’s voice that creates, mixing growl and clean voice, melodic and agressive singing, an unicum where everything goes straight to the point. In this mixture we can feel not only sounds coming from Novembre, the band in which Massimiliano played guitar, but also influences of the historical bands like the British Anathema. All of this suonds create a perfect alchemy.

Passion and technique togheter as one

I don’t have the expertise to judge their music over this aspect, unlike to the ears of an expert who can understand their background. However, their sounds are full of dedication and careful study, to the point that they are able to convey the desired emotions and message. Each song flows pleasantly without ever becoming heavy or repeating itself. That’s what emerges when I was listening to The Pattern: the sounds in every track enter your mind making you wanting to sing along. And that is what make music like it is. So when technique fuses with passion what we are in front of is nothingless than The Pattern.

Single’s video

To have an idea of what I’m saying and of what Oceana want to espress, right behind you can find the debut Single’s video to be prepared for when The Pattern will come.

As we said before, their music is much more than meets the ears, even if You don’ know was easily able to stand out among the songs came out in the same period. The journey has started from Hiding Lies andFall to Silencein their debut demo, great hits that can carry you in a world of imaginific pictures and sounds that changes in every track everytime. It’s difficult for me to say which of them is my favorite and consequently which one I could suggest you to listen to get a grasp of it. That’s because Oceana‘s sounds are so various that makes this choice difficult. As we already said they play Metal music, and not just the softest one, with some sounds taken by Death Metal. So, even if they may not play the music you are used to listen, they could be very addicting.

Where to find “The Pattern” and how to support Oceana

If you want to support Oceana, you can find them on their Bandcamp page and you could purchase their album The Pattern in one of three available formats: digital delivery, digipack with booklet or the LP.

https://oceana.bandcamp.com

You can listen to them on Spotify

You can find them on their official page on the major socials:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/oceanabandofficial
Twitter https://twitter.com/BandOceana
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/oceanabandofficial/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWpOw_dsOaP_6GHuYu38saw?view_as=subscriber